Bayu Marhaenjati, Jakarta – Jakarta Police say they were interrogating lawyer Eggi Sudjana early on Sunday morning, just hours before President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's inauguration, over an alleged plot to incite riots in the capital.
Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comr. Argo Yuwono said Eggi had discussed bomb-making with members of a WhatsApp group. Eggi was questioned by the police as a witness.
"We interrogated six witnesses including Eggi Sudjana, who was also in the WhatsApp group," Argo said on Monday. In the group conversations, Eggy was asked if he would participate in assembling a "nitrogen bomb," Argo said.
"He was told of a plan to make a nitrogen bomb and asked if he would donate money. But he didn't respond," Argo told reporters. "This is the reason we brought him to the Jakarta Police headquarters for questioning," Argo said.
The officer said Eggi was allowed to go home once the questioning was over.
Police have earlier arrested six suspects for allegedly plotting bomb attacks using catapults at the national legislature compound, where Jokowi was sworn in for his second term on Sunday afternoon.
The suspects were identified by their initials, S.H., E., F.A.B., R.H., H.R.S. and P.S.M. According to police, the WhatsApp group had 123 members with suspected links to Abdul Basith, 44, a lecturer at the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) who is now in custody after police seized nearly 30 improvised explosive devices from his group in late September.
Eggi is known as a staunch critic of Jokowi. He is also a key figure of Alumni 212, a hardline Muslim group that organized a massive street protest in Jakarta on Dec. 2, 2016 to bring down then governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama by accusing him of blasphemy.
The National Mandate Party (PAN) politician was detained for several days in May for allegedly inciting rioting against the results of the April presidential election. He remains a treason suspect to this date.